Progress of Chemistry in South Korea
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Progress of Chemistry in South Korea by Choon H. Do “rain, cloud, and wind” and married a woman trans- formed from a bear by taking garlic and mugwort for The Lamp of the East three weeks. In BC 2333 they set up a kingdom named In the golden age of Asia Gojoseon (Old Joseon). Interestingly, this legend tells Korea was one of its lamp-bearers us that Koreans recognized from a long time ago the And that lamp is waiting to be lighted once again importance of the environment and chemistry to sus- For the illumination in the East. taining human life. Rain, cloud, and wind are important —Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) factors for agriculture, and garlic and mugwort were used as medicines in ancient Korea. It also depicts the t was an historic event for the Korean Chemical Korean endurance for hardship. Society (KCS) to host the 45th IUPAC World According to unearthed remains, Koreans have in- IChemistry Congress (WCC) and the 48th IUPAC habited the Korean peninsula from the Paleolithic peri- General Assembly (GA) in August 2015. It was the first od. A petroglyph at Daegok-ri, Ulsan, probably carved time that the WCC and GA have been hosted in Korea in the Bronze or Iron Age, shows several types of since KCS became a member in the early 1960s. KCS whales, animals, and tools for hunting (Fig. 1). Among applied for membership in 1961 and the application other things, these early inhabitants knew how to hunt was approved the following year. Dr. Dong Il Kim and giant whales and record these events on the stone wall Prof. Sun Kyung Kim attended the 22nd GA in London in an artistic manner. in 1963 as the first KCS delegates. After Gojoseon, some of the northern territory of Korea was occupied by China’s Han Dynasty and Several international conferences sponsored by was renamed Hansagun. In the meantime, three king- IUPAC have been held in Korea: Chemrawn IX on the doms—Silla, Goguryeo, and Baekje—were established Role of Advanced Materials in Sustainable Develop- in BC 54, BC 37, and BC 18, respectively. From the pe- ment was held in Seoul in September 1996, the 36th riod of these three kingdoms, the history of Korea is International Symposium on Macromolecules (MAC- relatively well documented. The three kingdoms were RO) was held in Seoul in August 1996, and the 19th In- unified by Silla in AD 668 and the Silla Dynasty lasted ternational Conference on Chemical Education (ICCE) until AD 935. Gun Wang set up the Goryo Dynasty in was held in Seoul in August 2006. AD 918 and overthrew Silla in AD 935 to rule Korea. To mark this year’s special occasion, when the The Koryo Dynasty lasted until 1393, when General IUPAC WCC and GA are held in Busan, Korea, CI invit- Sung-gye Lee, the leader of a military coup in 1392, set ed Choon H. Do to describe the history and the future up the Joseon Dynasty and became a King himself. The prospects of chemistry in Korea. Joseon Dynasty was merged into Japan and dissolved in 1910. Japan occupied and ruled Korea from 1910 until Ancient Chemistry in Korea 1945. Korea became independent from Japanese rule on 15 August 1945 at the end of World War II. The Ko- According to a legend on the establishment of Korea, rean peninsula was divided in two, with the northern the Korean people are descendants of Dangun, the part ruled by the Soviet Union and the southern part son of a Heavenly God who came down to Korea with by the United States from 1945 to 1948. South Korea Fig. 1: Petroglyph in Daegok-ri, Ulsan, Korea. Fig. 2: Gold crown in Silla Fig. 3: Glassware imported from Lines were redrawn for emphasis. Dynasty Persian region 4 CHEMISTRY International September-December 2015 Period Names of Nations Ancient Korea Gojoseon (BC 2333-BC 108) tools such as armor, helmets, and agricultural imple- Hansagun (BC 108 –AD 314) ments, and were exported to Japan and China accord- Three Kingdoms Silla Dynasty (BC 57-AD 935) ing to written documents. Period and Unified Goguryeo Dynasty (BC 34-AD 668) From the Three Kingdoms Period Korea was an Silla Kingdom Baekje Dynasty (BC 18–AD 660) open society and traded with foreign countries freely. Medieval and early Goryo Dynasty (AD 918-1392) Glassware shown in Figure 3, for example, might come modern Korea Joseon Dynasty (AD 1392-1910) from the Persian region. Another very interesting ex- Occupation period by ample is a stone soldier standing in front of the tomb Japan (1910-1945) of King Wonseong (reign period AD 785-798), 38th King of the Silla Kingdom (Fig. 4). The figure of the Independence (1945) stone soldier is similar to western figures, and indicates Modern Korea, Korean South Korea (1948–present) that foreigners lived in Korea from ancient times. Ac- War (1950-1953) North Korea (1948–present) cording to legend, Queen Hwangok Huh came from In- Table 1: A Brief History of Korea dia in AD 48 and married Suro Kim, the founding King of the Garak Kingdom, a small kingdom between Silla was formally established 15 August 1948 with obser- and Baekje that was later merged into Silla. She be- vation by UN Temporary Commission on Korea, and came the progenitor of the Korean surname ‘Huh’. North Korea was established 9 September 1948. The Korean War erupted 25 June 1950 and lasted until a Chemistry in Medieval and Early cease-fire was declared 27 July 1953. This cease-fire Modern Korea remains in place today. The history of Korea is briefly outlined in Table 1. During the period between the 10th and early 20th centuries AD, two dynasties, the Koryo (918-1392) and Chemistry in the Three Kingdoms Chosun (1392-1910), rose and fell in Korea. Because the Period society of these two dynasties was disrupted for long times by invasions from Mongolian and Chinese forces We can guess the state of chemistry in the Three King- from the north, and by Japanese forces from the south, doms Period through the archaeological remains of Koreans had difficulties developing new sciences and the Silla Dynasty. These survived at a relatively higher technologies. Nevertheless, a few noticeable develop- rate than those of the Goguryeo and Baekje Kingdoms. ments were made. Of these remains, gold crowns, steel lumps, and glass- ware are notable for chemists. Figure 2 shows a gold Invention of metallic type and printing crown excavated from a tomb of the Silla Dynasty pe- A Buddhist book, ‘Jikji’, printed in 1377 in Goryeo Dy- riod. Many other remains were also made of gold. Sil- nasty using metallic type, is stored in the Manuscrits la produced significant gold and knew how to handle Orientaux division of the National Library of France it. Iron lumps in shallow sheet shapes were also found (Fig. 5). This book was confirmed as the world’s old- in tombs. These iron lumps were first produced as a est extant book printed with movable metal type by sponge iron form and then hammered into wrought UNESCO in September 2001 and is included in their iron. These iron lumps were used as basic materials for Memory of the World Programme. It shows that Ko- reans continuously improved science and technology Fig. 4: A stone soldier statue in front of the 38th ruler, not only for sustenance, but also for spiritual progress. King Wonseong’s tomb (reign period: AD 785-798) Compilation of medical knowledge Medical and medicinal information is always very im- portant to human life. In 1613, the Korean court phy- sician Jun Huh and his colleagues compiled a book, ‘Dongeuibogam’ (Principles and Practice of Eastern Medicine), an encyclopedia of medical knowledge and treatment techniques. Many prescriptions are still ap- plied today and are sources of research in herbal med- icine. The book also describes the ideals of preventive CHEMISTRY International September-December 2015 5 Progress of Chemistry in South Korea It’s is not known precisely why Koreans didn’t continue contact with westerners during these long periods. Howev- er, the leaders and scholars of those periods failed to match the progress of the modern civ- ilizations of the world. One the- ory, although it is not proven, is that recovery from the invasion and oppression by outsiders Fig. 5: ‘Jikji’ (left), the oldest extant book printed with movable metalloid took a long time. Some leaders type; and the medical books Dongeuibogam (right), part of the UNESCO tried to establish contact with “Memory of the World” Programme. western civilization in the 19th century, but their impacts were medicine and public health care by the state, ideals weak. At the start of the 20th that are very advanced even from the modern point of century, Korea lost its opportunity to catch up by itself view. Dongeuibogam was added to the Memory of the and came under Japanese occupation when the Jo- UNESCO World Programme in 2009 (Fig 5). seon Dynasty was merged with Japan in 1910. Invention of Korean alphabet, ‘Hangeul’ Table 2: Korean alphabet, “Hangeul” The invention of Korean alphabet, “Hangeul”, in 1446 by a group of scholars designated by King Sejong (Fig. Consonants 6), is worth mentioning. It was easy for Koreans to (14 characters) learn, and consequently became an excellent tool for learning and communication. The Korean alphabet is Vowels composed of 14 consonants and 10 vowels. The shapes (10 characters) of the consonants and vowels are shown in Table 2. One will notice that the shapes are simple, geometri- cal, and symmetrical. Ordinary people can learn this system in a short time, and it can describe foreign lan- Fig.